A sediment core sectioning method to minimize the post-sampling redistribution of organisms

We present a mechanical method to horizontally section soft bottom sediment cores to minimize the vertical post-sampling redistribution of motile infaunal macroinvertebrates. A clear acrylic core tube for a standard Kajak-Brinkhurst corer was modified by cutting a series of horizontal slits into the side of the core tube to allow the insertion of sectioning plates for physically sealing each section immediately after core retrieval. The modification is simple, inexpensive and easily adapted to any open barrel gravity corer.     

Melting and subsolidus reactions in the system K2O-CaO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O: corrections and additional experimental data

Melting relationships in the system K₂O-CaO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-H₂O have been reinvestigated using Schreinemakers analysis and hydrothermal experiments. The reaction sanidine+muscovite+zoisite+quartz+vapor =melt has been bracketed at 10, 15, and 20 kbars and 670–680, 680–690, and 690–700° C, respectively and it marks the lowest solidus temperatures in the system investigated.Below 10 kbars, experimental data on the beginning of melting in zoisite- or muscovite-bearing anorthite+sanidine assemblages have been obtained, which are not showing any differences and therefore point to melt compositions close to the feldspar-quartz join.     

Assessment of Primary Production by Statistical Analysis of Water‐quality Data

Time series of weekly water‐quality data at Schnackenburg on the Elbe River (1985—2000) were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA). Considering the amplitudes of composite patterns of variables is a step towards a process‐oriented interpretation of waterquality data. One specific objective was to investigate the impact of improved water quality after the German reunification in 1990 on primary production and the oxygen budget. To discriminate anthropogenic signals from natural fluctuations a separation of the impact of discharge was attempted based on a linear regression approach. A dominant pattern of co‐variation in the residual data could be attributed to biological activity (primary production). The most relevant variables of this 'biomode' are oxygen saturation, pH, and orthophosphate. We conclude that multivariate statistical analysis of water‐quality data can help to estimate primary production when direct observations of algal concentrations are missing. In the years from 1998—2000 the trend of the ‘biomode’ indicates an increased load of oxygen consuming biomass caused by enhanced primary production in the middle stretches of the Elbe River which corresponds with the observation of more severe oxygen deficits in the tidal section of the river.     

On precursors to the Italy earthquake M.6.2 using VLF signal of NSY(45.9 kHz) received at Kiel Longwave Monitor

On August 24, 2016, an earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck Central Italy (42.706°N and 13.223°E) at 1:36 UT. We present the results obtained from the US Navy VLF Transmitter’s NSY signal of 45.9 kHz transmitted from Niscemi, in the province of Sicily, Italy and received at the Kiel Longwave Monitor, Germany for 2016. We analysed the terminator times and their individual differences. We also analysed trends, dispersion and night time fluctuation which gave us a possible precursor the Italy earthquake. We found ionospheric perturbations in these parameters on 14th, 19th and 22nd of August, few days prior. Moreover, we filtered the possible effects due to lightning, storms and auroras if any.     

Evaluating the potential of multi-view data extraction from small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) for object-based classification for Wetland land covers

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) have the potential to provide multi-view data, but the approaches used to extract the multi-view data from UAS and investigation of their use in image classification are currently unavailable in publications to our best knowledge. This study presents a method that combines collinearity equations and a two-phase optimization procedure to automatically project a point from real world coordinate system of an orthoimage to UAS image coordinate system (row and column numbers) to be used in multi-view data extraction. The results show average errors for the computed UAS column and row numbers were 1.6 and 1.8 pixels respectively evaluated with leave-one-out method. Based on this algorithm, it’s also for the first time that object-based multi-view data were extracted and presented, and the potential of using the multi-view data to aid Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis(GEOBIA) through bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) modelling was evaluated with two representatives of BRDFs, the Rahman-Pinty-Verstraete(RPV) and Ross-Thick-LiSparse (RTLS). Our results indicate the RPV model tends to overestimate the bidirectional reflectance for land cover types with high reflectance, while perform well for those with relatively low reflectance in our study area. To test the impact of using multi-view data on image classification, we extracted parameters from BRDF models and used these parameters as object features for object-based classification. The 10-fold cross validation results show that the 3-parameter RTLS significantly improved overall accuracy compared to the classifications relying only on the orthoimage features, while other BRDF models did not show significant improvements, raising the needs to develop new methods to better utilize the multi-view information in GEOIBA in the future.     

High Arctic sea ice conditions influence marine birds wintering in Low Arctic regions

Ocean climate change is having profound biological effects in polar regions. Such change can also have far-reaching downstream effects in sub-polar regions. This study documents an environmental relationship between High Arctic sea ice changes and mortality events of marine birds in Low Arctic coastal regions. During April 2007 and March 2009, hundreds of beached seabird carcasses and moribund seabirds were found along the east and northeast coasts of Newfoundland, Canada. These seabird “wrecks” (i.e. dead birds on beaches) coincided with a period of strong, persistent onshore winds and heavily-accumulated sea ice that blocked bays and trapped seabirds near beaches. Ninety-two percent of wreck seabirds were Thick-billed Murres (Uria lomvia). Body condition and demographic patterns of wreck murres were compared to Thick-billed Murres shot in the Newfoundland murre hunt. Average body and pectoral masses of wreck carcasses were 34% and 40% lighter (respectively) than shot murres, indicating that wreck birds had starved. The acute nature of each wreck suggested that starvation and associated hypothermia occurred within 2–3 days. In 2007, first-winter murres (77%) dominated the wreck. In 2009, there were more adults (78%), mostly females (66%). These results suggest that spatial and temporal segregation in ages and sexes can play a role in differential survival when stochastic weather conditions affect discrete areas where these groups aggregate. In wreck years, southward movement of Arctic sea ice to Low Arctic latitudes was later and blocked bays longer than in most other years. These inshore conditions corresponded with recent climate-driven changes in High Arctic ice break-up and ice extent; coupled with local weather conditions, these ice conditions appeared to be the key environmental features that precipitated the ice-associated seabird wrecks in the Low Arctic region.     

A new relation between the central spectral solar H I Lyman α irradiance and the line irradiance measured by SUMER/SOHO during the cycle 23

The spectral irradiance at the center of the solar H I Lyman α (, referred to as Lyα in this paper) line profile is the main excitation source responsible for the atomic hydrogen resonant scattering of cool material in our Solar System. It has therefore to be known with the best possible accuracy in order to model the various Lyα emissions taking place in planetary, cometary, and interplanetary environments. Since the only permanently monitored solar irradiance is the total one (i.e. integrated over the whole Lyα line profile), Vidal-Madjar [1975. Evolution of the solar Lyman alpha flux during four consecutive years. Solar Phys. 40, 69-86] using Orbiting Solar Observatory 5 (OSO-5) satellite Lyα data, established a semi-empirical formula allowing him to deduce the central spectral Lyα irradiance from the total one. This relation has been extensively used for three decades. But, at the low altitude of the OSO-5 orbit, the central part of the solar line profile was deeply absorbed by a large column of exospheric atomic hydrogen. Consequently, the spectral irradiance at the center of the line was obtained by a complex procedure confronting the observations with simulations of both the geocoronal absorption and the self-reversed shape of the solar Lyα profile. The SUMER spectrometer onboard SOHO positioned well outside the hydrogen geocorona, provided full-Sun Lyα profiles, not affected by such an absorption [Lemaire et al., 1998. Solar H I Lyman α full disk profile obtained with the SUMER/SOHO spectrometer. Astron. Astrophys. 334, 1095-1098; 2002. Variation of the full Sun Hydrogen Lyman α and β profiles with the activity cycle. Proc. SOHO 11 Symposium, ESA SP-508, 219-222; 2004. Variation of the full Sun Hydrogen Lyman profiles through solar cycle 23. COSPAR 2004 Meeting], making it—for the first time—possible to measure the spectral and total Lyα solar irradiances directly and simultaneously. A new relation between these two quantities is derived in an expression that is formally similar to the previous one, but with significantly different parameters. After having discussed the potential causes for such differences, it is suggested that the new relation should replace the old one for any future modeling of the numerous Lyα absorptions and emissions observed in the Solar System.